Adolescent Citizen Scientists
Focus groups with teens
Year 1 of the ACS project culminated in research to identify and prioritize potential systems-level programs or policy actions to improve the Hartford-area food environment for high school students and their families.
Comprehensive training provided the ACS with the knowledge and skills necessary to understand and participate in research assessing their food environment.
The ACS cohort then worked closely with the ACS program team, including researchers from UConn and HHC, to design and implement qualitative focus group research to identify barriers to healthy eating that Hartford Public High School students experience.
Phase 1 of the project was a success!
Based on the focus group findings and consultation with the program’s Community Advisory Board, we identified a feasible and potentially impactful program for codesign in Phase 2 of the ACS project: Food Resource Guides to address food insecurity among students and families in the Hartford Public High School community and throughout Connecticut.
Resources
Research Training
The ACS first completed a set of training modules on food-related research topics, including nutrition, health equity, food marketing, research, program co-design, and designing a communication plan.
In the Research module (available on the ACS training page), the ACS learned about the core differences between quantitative and qualitative research, explored the ethical considerations in conducting research with human subjects, and examined how focus group research is used to understand community experiences and perspectives.
The ACS also completed UConn’s online human subjects research training program (CITI training).
The students were engaged in all aspects of the focus group study.
Specific tasks for the ACS included:
- Developing focus group materials (e.g., discussion guide, handouts to facilitate the discussion, participant surveys)
- Participating in practice focus group sessions to understand how focus groups are conducted and test the discussion guide
- Developing procedures and materials to recruit participants (e.g., recruitment flyers, in-person recruiting, screening survey)
- Assisting in conducting focus groups (e.g., greeting participants, providing and collecting assent/consent forms, observing and taking notes during the groups)
- Assisting in preliminary data analysis by providing their insights on common themes that were voiced during the groups
The ACS student cohort provided positive evaluations of the training they received and reported learning numerous skills that will help them in future academic and career endeavors, including active listening, public speaking, working as a team, and critical thinking.
Focus Group Report
The ACS assisted the ACS program coordinators in conducting qualitative research with HPHS students to identify barriers to healthy eating that they experience in their community. The ACS were engaged in study design, implementation and preliminary data analysis.
The Focus Group Final Report provides a complete description of the research design, implementation and results, as well as all materials used for the study.
All research procedures were approved by UConn’s Institutional Review Board (HR25-0072) and Hartford School District.
